Patsy Ferran and Paul Mescal in A Streetcar Named Desire in London Credit: Marc Brenner
Brooklyn Academy of Music will host an Olivier Award-winning revival of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning classic A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun, All of Us Strangers, Gladiator II) as Stanley Kowlaski. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall (Cabaret), this Streetcar revival began life at London's Almeida Theater in 2022 and then transferred to the West End in 2023. There the show won Oliviers for Mescal and Anjana Vasan as Stella. Mescal, Vasan and Patsy Ferran as Blanche DuBois will repeat their London performances.
Streetcar will began performances in London at the Noel Coward Theatre Feb. 3-22, 2025 and then transfer to BAM starting Feb. 28 for a limited run until April 6. Streetcar has been presented on Broadway nine times and first opened in 1947 with Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter.
Whitney White rehearsing for Macbeth in Stride. Credit: Lauren Miller
BAM will also present a production of The Threepenny Opera from the Berliner Ensemble and Macbeth in Stride, Whitney White's reimagining of the Scottish play with Lady Macbeth as a powerful black woman. Both productions will begin in April. Macbeth in Stride is a co-production with Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, DC, Philadelphia Theater Company, and Yale Repertory Theater.
Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd Credit: Marc Brenner
Nicole Scherzinger has issued an apology in response to internet buzz that she is a Trump supporter and should be penalized by boycotts of her show and denying her a Tony Award for Sunset Blvd. The brouhaha all started when Scherzinger responded with a like to an Instagram post of British comedian Russell Brand sporting a red hat with the slogan "Make Jesus First Again." (The font and style of the hat resembled Make America Great Again hats sported by MAGA Trump voters.) Scherzinger commented "Where can I get that hat?" The post was jumped on several Internet users as Scherzinger's Trump support and they went nuts, calling for her head. I wrote that the former Pussycat Doll can vote for whoever she wants. It should not effect her performance or her chances for a Tony. In responses to the furor, she issued the following statement on Instagram:
“I deeply apologise for the hurt caused by my recent engagement with some social media posts.
“When I commented on these posts, I made the mistake of not realising that they could be easily interpreted as being politically related and I apologise to anyone who understandably reached that conclusion.
“Many presumptions are being drawn, which do not reflect who I am, what I stand for, or who I voted for.
“Many of the marginalised communities feeling hurt and concerned by the results of the presidential election are people I care about most.
“I stand with them, as I always have, throughout my life and career.
“If you know me, you know that.
“Like so many others, in times of adversity and uncertainty, I turn to my faith.
“I believed that the posts I engaged with were about encouraging people to choose love and faith – ‘putting Jesus first’.
“For me Christ embodies peace, compassion, hope, and above all – unconditional love, especially for those who may feel it the least right now.
“I come from a place of love and I will always support values that bring us closer together. It’s so important we come together with compassion, and love one another more now than ever. Nicole.”
If all Scherzinger did was like a hat that resembled a MAGA Hat, she didn't do anything worthy of censure. Even if she liked something Trump did or said, she has a right to her opinion and to express it. Bur she didn't do that. The overly hysterical reaction to Scherzinger's brief comment demonstrates the over sensitivity of certain members of the Left and is an example of the kind of self-righteous, intolerant, overblown behavior that pushes people away from the Democratic Party and may be part of the reason Harris lost. (Ironically, Trump is also guilty of characterizing those who disagree with him as "the enemy.")
In related news, Kecia Lewis characterized Patti LuPone's describing Hell's Kitchen as "too loud" as a racist (if unintentional) microaggression. LuPone's show The Roommate and Lewis' show Hell's Kitchen share a wall. LuPone complained sound from Hell's Kitchen was bleeding into The Roommate during quiet moments. LuPone contacted the sound team at Hell's Kitchen and requested the sound levels be adjusted. It was also reported when a fan asked LuPone to autograph a Hell's Kitchen Playbill, the star responded, "I'm not signing Hell's Kitchen, they're too loud." The sound team did change the levels and LuPone sent flowers and a thank-you note to the sound team.
"In our industry, language holds power and shapes perception, often in ways that we may not immediately realize," said Lewis, who won a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Hell's Kitchen, in her open letter to LuPone. "Referring to a predominantly Black Broadway show as 'loud' can unintentionally reinforce harmful stereotypes, and it also feels dismissive of the artistry and the voices that are being celebrated on stage."
Lewis then called on LuPone to apologize.
What should LuPone have done differently? Should she have done anything differently?
Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd Credit: Marc Brenner
The Internet is buzzing with outrage that Nicole Scherzinger, star of Sunset Blvd, has been "outed" as a Trump supporter, her show should be boycotted and she has lost her chances for a Tony. I disagree with this stance entirely. I hate, loathe and despise Donald Trump, but Scherzinger has a right to support whoever she wants and to state her views publicly without fear of reprisal. I am seeing Sunset Blvd next week and if she is as great as word of mouth has it, I intend to applaud her. If she gives the most outstanding musical performance this season, she has my vote for a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle. I'm not going to have lunch with her or try to be her friend, but that's beside the point. If we start penalizing artists for views we disagree with, then we are no better than Donald Trump or Joseph McCarthy. Jerome Robbins and Elia Kazan did some despicable things, i.e. naming names before the HUAC committee, but they are still great artists and should not be "cancelled." Vanessa Redgrave deserved her Oscar for Julia despite her unpopular pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel stance.
Kecia Lewis and Maleah Joi Moon in Hell's Kitchen. Credit: Marc J. Franklin
In other news, there is a mini-brouhaha going on between Patti LuPone of The Roommate and Kecia Lewis of Hell's Kitchen. The two shows occupy neighboring theaters, the Booth and the Shubert. LuPone complained the Alicia Keys musical was too loud and could be heard during quiet moments of LuPone's two-character non-musical. In a letter on her Instagram account, Lewis, Tony winner for Hell's Kitchen, countered that LuPone was committing a racially motivated "microaggression." LuPone has a right to voice her opinion about the sound level of her neighbor's show. I think Lewis went too far in calling it a microaggression and labelling LuPone's concern racist, but I'm not going to boycott all of Lewis' future performances because of her opinion which I disagreee with.
Julie Christie and Oskar Werner in Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Ray Bradbury's 1953 science-fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 will be adapted for the Broadway stage by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok (Cost of Living). Bradbury's dystopian novel is set in a near future where firemen set books to blaze rather than rescuing people from flames. There have been two film versions of the novel. Francois Truffaut, in one of his rare English-language movies, adapted the work in 1966 with Oskar Werner, Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack. Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon starred in a 2018 TV version for HBO. This will be the first time a Bradbury work has been seen on Broadway. A program of three one-acts based on his short stories titled The World of Ray Bradbury played Off-Broadway in 1965.
Majok said, "The relevancy of mind domination and the end of the world in our current age needs no words; what struck me most in Fahrenheit 451 was its lens on our loneliness. How our yearning for connection and fear of its absence can be feasted upon. How we long to devote ourselves to something true and lasting in a fracturing society. And the ways we blow up our lives to unearth the truth we've buried – which will shatter us into our most honest selves. As Bradbury writes, 'We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in awhile.'" “It is a privilege and thrill to bring this seminal novel to the stage, with one of our most visceral and acclaimed living writers,” said the producers in a statement. “Mr. Bradbury’s and Ms. Majok’s works both stem from the deeply human and personal, and we’re excited by the significance of this collaboration.” The Bradbury Estate commented that, “We are delighted to bring Fahrenheit 451 to a new audience, with the impact and intimacy that only theater can offer, to be working with producers who care so deeply for the work and with Martyna Majok, a truly great dramatist of enormous intelligence, sensitivity and skill.”
(Bought at Barnes and Noble. Full price. The perfect big, fat, juicy, movie-star book to read on my ten day cruise of the Mediterranean.) When Roger Lewis says his book contains everything about Taylor and Burton, he means it. We get considerations of how their film roles paralleled their real lives including some really obscure films (such as The Flintstones for Taylor and several early English works for Burton), itemized lists of the personal effects left by their separate estates with the auction prices, a rundown of the TV-movies based on their lives and Benny Hill's parody of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, wherein the British comic played both stars.
Weighing in at 600 densely-packed pages, Lewis assesses the notorious couple's impact on pop culture and public morals, their bacchanalian extravagant lifestyle, and their movie legacy. He often goes off on tangents, offering pages of details on figures whose paths the Burtons crossed: Andy Warhol, Sophia Loren, even Sylvia Plath. His analysis is pithy and sharp, ever sympathetic to his subjects and harsh to their critics. He sees them as emblems of an era, their explosive union tragic. They did love each other, but their temperaments did not allow them to stay together. A normal, settled marriage where you make compromises in order to live with each other was not for them. Taylor turned out to be the stronger of the two, her career and life continued while Burton spun out of control, succumbing to booze and hard living at 58.
This is far from a conventional movie-star biography. Lewis does not strictly follow chronological order in charting Burton and Taylor's meteoric rise and world-famous romance. He does separate the book into five sections, like the acts of a Shakespearean play: each of the subjects' lives before they met; the chaotic production of Cleopatra where they collided (featuring a day-by-day breakdown of the entire shooting schedule), their explosive two marriages; and their lives after their second and final divorce.
Lewis inserts himself and his prejudices into his narrative. We learn of his prolonged illness (making him sympathetic to Taylor's many health issues). There is more than a hint of homophobia here as Lewis makes unnecessary, unfunny gags about Taylor's many gay friends (her favorite hairdresser and confidante is labelled "nelly"; Dirk Bogarde is described as a repressed homosexual as opposed to the fiercely straight Burton; Cecil Beaton is supposedly afraid of Taylor's breasts and that's why he didn't want to photograph her).
Despite its flaws, Erotic Vagrancy (named for the Pope's description of the Burtons' adulterous behavior on the Cleopatra set), is a huge banquet of movie gossip and social commentary. Not all the courses are nutritious, but they are wickedly delicious.
It's the day before the 2024 Presidential election and I am mildly hopeful about Harris winning and Trump losing. The polls all indicate a 50-50 race with a few trends such as Iowa favoring Harris slightly. Given Trumpy's criminal convictions, atrocious record on abortion rights and tarriffs, siding with dictators and wanting to be one, cognitive issues and being as old as dirt, I'm astonished that it's still this close. But I think she will win due to recent statements and actions in the past few days which will push the few remaining undecided voters into her camp. Speaker of the House Johnson has said they will get rid of Obamacare and the CHIPs Act if the GOP retains the House. Elon Musk has stated Trump has promised him a top position, managing government budget cuts which will result in crashing the economy. Musk has openly stated there will be a down turn in the economy, but that's OK. It's only short term and everything will work out in the end. Certifiable loon RFK Jr. claims he'll be a Health Czar and you know what that means: no more vaccines or fluoridated water. Didn't Sterling Hayden warn about that in Dr. Strangelove?
In the past week, I've had run-ins with pro-Trumpers which froze my blood a bit. Last weekend, I unwisely engaged with a vendor here in Jackson Heights. He was an older white guy selling crap outside the supermarket. A young passer-by asked him if he wanted to buy a Harris T-shirt. I know I should have stayed out of it, but I joined in the conversation and the vendor proceeded to go off on racist rant about Trump saving the country from invading hordes of immigrants. I tried to be reasonable, citing statistics that crime was down and that communities benefitted from new people, but there was no way this guy was going to listen to logic or even a differing opinion. He denounced me as a traitor to my race and cited the fact that in 1920, Queens was 90 percent white and now it was only 52 percent or something. Therefore, the white race was being eliminated. "Wow," I said, "You're going to say that in Jackson Heights? You're going to openly admit you're a racist in this diverse neighborhood?" This guy wanted to sell his junk to people he despised and feared? I realized I never should have said anything and backed away.
A few days later, I overheard a similar confrontation and this time I kept my big fat Democratic mouth shut. I was sitting in Herald Square at the public tables and, at the table next to me, two co-workers, one white, one Hispanic, were disagreeing about the race. The white guy was playing the inflation card, saying gas was $4 a gallon (I pay $3.19), prices were all outrageous and Puerto Rico did have a garbage problem, so what's the big deal? The Hispanic guy was just smiling and shaking his head. I wanted to tell the white guy it's a good thing he lives in NY and therefore his vote doesn't count because of the electoral college. But I didn't.
I don't know if I'll watch the election returns. The tension might destroy me. So maybe an old movie instead.
Day 9: Naples Our final port was Naples where we had last been in 2016. On this last trip, we loved the crowded, messy city and took a train to Pompei to examine the ruins left by the eruption of Vesuvius. This time we strolled through the Archeological Museum and then had lunch at Trattoria Del Fernandino restaurant recommended by friends. I had prosciutto and mozzarella salad followed by sea bass. We took a cab from the museum to the restaurant and the traffic was terrible. The cab driver complained about the constant congestion of his city. The lunch was very good. We took a long walk back to the ship and relaxed. Our final night on board consisted of packing, a last round of Team Trivia (and winning a visor), having drinks with the friends we made and eating dinner in the Broad Dining Room.
Day 10: Disembark in Rome
We got right off the ship and boarded a bus to the Rome airport, an hour outside the city. (We had been to Rome recently, so we decided to just go home rather than linger another few more expensive days.) The flight back was calm and I caught up on more episodes of Elsbeth. Once back in the US, we had to take a cab to Long Island where we had left our car with relatives. That was a mistake. Way too expensive. Next time, we'll take an Uber or Lyft, but we didn't want to have to take a shuttle to the car service meeting area. Short-sighted on our part.
It was a wonderful trip and Oceania is a great cruise line. Our package included four shore excursions, a drinks package including wine and/or champagne, and four specialty restaurants. Most lines nickel and dime you to death, but almost everything was included with Oceania. The ship wasn't too big so getting on and off at ports wasn't a hassle. No kids, probably because it was during school. So I would recommend Oceania.
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